George Reed's 'Race Rats'

Barney Stuart, C J. Habich, George Reed, Lindy Willis, Pedro Mendez and Carl Haas.Dale Moody was also in this group at the 1960 Chicago Auto Show held at the Chicago International Amphitheater. These are the Reed's Race Rats, Carl Haas was just visiting at the time.

George Reed was quite a race driver in his days. Yet, in spite of appearances in ten Sebring 12 Hours and two LeMans 24 Hours, plus many entries at Road America, the Nassau Speed Week and other tracks in North America, Reed seems to be a driver largely forgotten. This is the reason why I would like to show the members of the forum the cars of and the man George Reed from Midlothian, Illinois, where he ran RRR Enterprises. RRR stood for Reed's Race Rats. His favored race number was 95. It was at the suggestion of Willem Oosthoek that I have started this site.Reed's Race Rat decal as seen on his many race carsGeorge Reed's date of birth is unknown to me. His first race that I know of was in January of 1956 with a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, on frozen Silver Lake of all places. Sebring followed in March, again aboard a 300SL. He returned there each year until 1966. In January 1959 George Reed became a subdealer to Luigi Chinetti, followed in November of 1962 by a Shelby Cobra dealership. Not surprisingly, most of the rides he had were Ferraris, followed by Cobras in his final years as a competitor. George Reed's last major race was Sebring in 1965, where he suffered a concussion after crashing Dan Gerber's Cobra on oil left by a competitor.

Unless otherwise indicated all photos posted are courtesy of Richard Macon,who received them from the family of John Miller. Over time John Miller was the expert mechanic of George Reed and, after he moved to Texas, of Alan Connell and Richard Macon. As they say "Let the ride back in time begin."

I am also posting photos for Dale Moody, one of the original Reed's Race Rats.

This is the ex Phil Hill/ Gendebien Ferrari from Sebring in 1959. Now owned by George Reed. This car was a Ferrari 250 TR 59/60 # 0770. George Reed bought it from Luigi Chinetti . George Reed and his co-driver Bill Sturgis finished 8th at Sebring in 1961 with this car.George Reed's tow car. Note, even the bumpers are painted red to match the Ferrari 250TR #0770 on the trailer that it was towing.

CJ Habich and George Reed in the ex Hill/Gendebien LeMan's car. This car won LeMans in 1958. George ran it in 1959 and 1960. It is known as chassis # 0728John Miller conversing with Luigi Chinetti at Sebring in 1959. The #16 Ferrari 250 TdF was owned and entered by George Reed. It was entered under his RRR Racing. Reed's Race Rats.Start of the Sebring race in 1959 with George Reed taking the first stint in #16. His co-drivers were Don O'Dell and George Arents. Car retired after 110 laps.Reed's TdF ready to tackle Sebring 12 hours in

Ferrari 0770, a 250TR-59, was run at LeMans in 1960 for Phil Hill and Wolfgang Von Trips. It ran out of fuel before Hill could even get into it. Luigi Chinetti's NART brought it to the Road America 500 in Sept. 1960 where Augie Pabst and Bill Wuesthoff drove it to second place. The car then went to Reed, who placed second himself in the 1961 Road America 500, co-driving with Ed Hugus. Over the next couple years Reed raced the car extensively, changing the 3.0 motor for a 3.5 290 unit, then a 4.5 375 mill, finally to a 427 Ford V-8. This car was featured in Vintage Motorsport earlier this year, I believe.

Before the two 250 TRs, Reed had a 375 Plus with the engine enlarged to 5.1 liters. He won the production feature at the 1958 Road America June Sprints in a 250 GT.

Reed won the SCCA race at Wilmot Hills, Wis., May 21, 1961, and he repeated the win May 20, 1962 at Wilmot Hills.

Moments before the start of the 1958 Sebring 12 Hours. George Reed co-drove the #21 Ferrari TdF with George Arents and Don O'Dell, just like he would in 1959. Although the Berlinettas were two different cars. In 1958 they finished 7th overall, in 1959 they retired after 110 laps.Other cars in the line up: E.D. Martin's #23 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, John Fitch's red #19 250 Testa Rossa and Johnny von Neumann's #17 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa.Thank you RA Historian for telling the forum about George Reed.George Reed's Ferrari 290MM#0628 at Wilmot Hills. This race is in 1961 and Lee Hall is in the Porsche RS60. This course is now a snow ski area called Wilmot Mountain Ski Area. It was located just north of the Illinois-Wisconsin border in Wilmot, Wisconsin. Behind the car is Chas Pritchard on the side of car Pete Mendez. This car is now owned by Jon Shirley.George Reed getting ready for the start. In Ferrari 290MM.George Reed's 375 plus Ferrari during a pitstop at Elkhart Lake. Note RRR Logo on the fender.photos lent to site by Richard Maconall research :Willem Oosthoekphotos#2-#3-#4 Lindy Willisphotos: John Miller Family Collection

That second-to-last one's a rare photo: George Reed driving 0628, a 3.5 liter V12 290 MM. He raced it at Elkhart Lake in September 1960 as #95, dnf, and I'm sure this is the same car. (Can't be a 250 TR, as the only two RHD pontoon fendered TRs were elsewhere.)

Great photos! There's much more history on Reed, including the Corvette he raced. I have photos somewhere, from a friend who owns and is restoring the car.

Reed did own 0628, but when did it get the open fendered front end? Earlier photos I have seen of this chassis show a solid front. Somewhere along the line it must have received a new front. Any one know further history?

0628 was converted to the pontoon fender nose by Luigi Chinetti after DeVroom (as I remember -- I'm travelling and don't have access to my files) had an accident in 1957 in the car. It remained in pontoon fender from until a few years ago when Jon Shirley, who currently owns the car, restored it to its original form.

At the Swedish GP on august 1957, c/n 0628M now painted in NART's blue and white colors, was entered for Swaters and de Vroom, but the later turned the car upside down on lap 23. Thus, 0628M was again back in Maranello on september, and was converted in the current pontoon TR look. Once completed it was directly sent by the factory at Nassau for the Bahamas speed week, to be raced by ... Moss !

Jerry, nice thread.
One can also add that in addition to being proprietor of RRR Motors - Ferrari distributorship, George Reed was also a Goodyear tyre dealer in Homewood, Ill.

Originally posted by Jerry Entin George Reed getting ready for the start. In Ferrari 290MM.photos lent to site by Richard Macon- research Willem Oosthoek- John Miller Family Collection Photos.

Fascinating picture! Immediately behind Reed appears to be the 1958 Le Mans winning 250 Testa Rossa, which Reed sold to Owen Coon just prior to the 1961 season. Next to that is the Porsche RS-60 of Lee Hall. All this and more! Further, this is at the miniscule Wilmot Hills race course which existed roughly from the mid 50s through 1967. Depending upon who used what to measure, the track was just 0.8 or 0.9 miles long! The SCCA ran up to six Regional events per year here, and local car clubs also ran. The track essentially had five turns. In 1962 and 1963 SCCA ran a Divisional Championship event (the equivalent of today's SCCA Nationals) at the track. More info, with photos and track diagrams, can be found at www.wilmothills.homestead.com

Originally posted by Jerry Entin George Reed liked white with a red stripe and the # 95 on his 375 plus Ferrari. photos lent site Richard Macon- photos courtesy of the John Miller Family Collection

Another fascinating photo! Can you identify the red car on the track next to Reed? Looks like a Ferrari from 1954 or so. Also, where was this taken? Looks like a oval track with road course attached, judging from the grandstands and shape of the track. Must have been around 1956 or maybe 57 based on the MG A and Corvette in the photo. Also, take a look at the white Porsche Speedster, number 26. That is Carl Haas!

A very unhappy George Reed after his 1958 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa#0728 has broken down. Glad you are enjoying the thread CJE. This car was later sold to Owen Coon as mentioned by RA Historian.photo lent site Willem Oosthoek.George Reed also raced a Porsche Speedster. A friend of mine, Ike Smith remembers going into RRR Racing in the mid 60's. He was getting some Goodyear tires mounted for a CanAm type car. The shop was in the Cicero area of Chicago. Over in the corner were 3 Ferrari's. He said you could have bought any of them for under $4,000 each.photo lent site Richard Macon- John Miller Family Collection picture.

George Reed enjoyed running at Nassau for the Speed Week. Here he is down by the docks.Getting ready to ship his roughed up Ferrari home.The rough Nassau course in 1957 seems to have knocked the exhaust pipe clean off of George Reed's 375Plus Ferrari#0392. This car is the ex Umberto Maglioli Pan American Race winner from 1954. George finished 20th in 1957 with this car.photos lent site Richard Macon- courtesy John Miller Family Collection

Originally posted by Jerry Entin George Reed and his Testa Rossa Ferrari about to lap Briggs Cunningham's Tipo 60 Birdcage in the September 22, 1961 Watkins Glen Grand prix. He finished 7th overallphoto courtesy Bill Green.

Just look at the proximity of the spectators to the track and the protection afforded them! Astounding! And the heck of it all is that back then WE were the ones standing in such positions and never gave it a thought!

This is the Ferrari 290MM that George Reed raced to Victory at Wilmot Hills in 1961. It is at the docks in Nassau, this is from 1957. It has just won the 1957 Nassau Trophy Race. It was driven by Stirling Moss and entered by Temple Buell. I don't know if it was leased from Chinetti for the Nassau race or if Buell owned it.I am glad that you are enjoying the pictures Alan Cox and Gary C. Also Happy New Years to all the Forum members.photo lent site John Miller Family Collection-research Willem Oosthoek.

The Ferrari 290MM was leased by Chinetti to Temple Buell. The car had been sold to George Arents by Chinetti and had it shipped to Nassau. Arents was to become a business associate of Chinetti, so together they contrived a deal whereby Chinetti bought the car back from Arents so he could lease it to Temple Buell who in turn employed Moss to drive the car. Good old fashioned sportsmanship?? NO, a clever move to put forward the name of the embryonic North American Racing Team.
Terry

Terry: Temple Buell still had the 290MM one month later, at the January 11-12, 1958 SCCA National at Miami it was entered for Paul O'Shea. O'Shea couldn't make that race so Carroll Shelby had a choice between two Buell team cars: the 290MM Ferrari and the 4.7 Liter Maserati 450S. He chose the Maserati.
At Cuba on February 24, 1958, Buell still had the 290MM Ferrari, again entered for Paul O'Shea under Buell's name. O'Shea finished 9th, much lower than he had ran in the first few laps since he had the decency to stop and inform the organizers of the Cifuentes accident on lap 5.
All this leads me to believe that Buell either later bought the 290MM Ferrari after Nassau or had a long-term lease. Considering his wealth it would seem unusual that he wouldn't have bought the car. Unless Chinetti wouldn't sell it and preferred to just let Buell's Team continue on with running the car.
research provided by Willem Oosthoek.

This car is also the one driven by Dan Gurney at Watkins Glen in Sept. 1958 carrrying the number 3; some sources incorrectly list this car at that event as a 335s, chassis 0700 owned by George Tilp, but it was actually 0628.

Originally posted by teegeefla This car is also the one driven by Dan Gurney at Watkins Glen in Sept. 1958 carrrying the number 3; some sources incorrectly list this car at that event as a 335s, chassis 0700 owned by George Tilp, but it was actually 0628.

That seems to be a very prevalent error. I would venture a guess that the various reports that I have seen over the years of that Watkins Glen USAC race about half say the 290MM and half refer to it as the 4.1. I wrote a history of the USAC Road Racing Division a few years ago for Vintage Motorsport (they still have it in the can and the editor tells me that the story "is still alive") and I ran into this conflict. Off the top of my head I cannot recall what I called it for the story. I will have to go back and check.Tom

Jerry,
First my error, De Vroom bought the car from Garage Francorchamps, not Chinetti.
I also stand to be corrected on the following. I thought Chinetti retained ownership of 0628 and it he who sold the car to George Reed 5th September 1960, having reworked the front end of the car. I'm open to alternative thoughts.
Terry

Eddie Crawford did drive a Ferrari 290MM and his number was 14 in the Cuban race. And it was entered by Jan de Vroom. Paul O'Shea also drove a 290MM Ferrari in the Cuban race and it was entered by Temple Buel, his number was 18. They finished 8th and 9th. This was a 6 lap race.
research provided by Willem Oosthoek.

George Reed at Wilmont in his Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa 59/60. If you thought the crowd control was bad at Walkins Glen.... Not even a snow fence at Wilmot.photo lent site Jack WilkeningGeorge Reed took the start in this NART entered Ferrari 250GT at LeMans in 1961. Here he is seen coming out of Mulsanne corner. The car lasted for 76 laps or 6 hours before it retired with electrical problems. Reed and his co-driver George Arents were running 13th when they retired.photo lent site Willem Oosthoek.

This is George Reed's Testa Rossa with his friend Allan Ross driving and Burdette Martin going along for the ride. I believe this picture is from around 1958. And I am very glad you are enjoying the site Rob. George Reed had some beautiful cars. This is how George Reed took the Ferrati TdF Berlinetta to the races.George Reed must be checking how the competition is doing. George was himself the Goodyear Racing tire distributor for the Chicago area. He ran his shop out of Cicero, Illinois. This was before George Reed became the Goodyear Racing Tire distributor and he was probably running on Firestone's at this race.photos lent site Richard Macon- courtesy of John Miller Family collection

Until very recently, I believe the last two years, Burdette "Burdy" Martin was the head of ACCUS, the American arm of the FIA. His offices were based in Evaston, near Chicago. He issued Shairon and I our FIA- Grade C- Historic licenses. He's a very nice man.

I think he's been replaced by Nick Craw, the former head of the SCCA and a Formula B driver in the day.

George Reed in his Ferrari TdF Berlinetta lining up for a production race in around 1958. I believe the track to be Cumberland. The Corvettes had around 283 hp. I think the Ferrari's had around 240hp. The Ferrari's usually were sent to the states with rearend gears for running very high speeds. Like what would be needed at LeMans in the day. In 1958 the Tour de France Ferrari was called a 250 Europa model. The Corvettes usually had gearing that was for airport type circuits where you could use the torque of the engine. This would make it rough on the smaller displacement Ferrari's to do good. I still would take a Ferrari TdF over a Corvette for looks alone. Or, for that matter how about the 300SL behind the Corvette.photo lent site Richard Macon-courtesy John Miller Family Collection

It was not only Ferrari's that carried George Reed's RRR decals. Here is J.C. Kilburn in his Maserati 250S with the Reed's Race Rats sticker also he is sporting the Texas flag and the Black Bull Racing Logo. This car was later sold to Ed Sevadjian of Dallas, Texas.research- Willem Oosthoek-picture lent site Willem Oosthoek.

George Reed in his Ferrari at Cumberland in 1958.Here is the guy who took most of these pictures on this site. The late John Miller. Expert mechanic and craftsman. Here he is working on the Ferrari of George Reed.photo lent site- John Miller Family Collection

Vince: You are right of course. That car is the Lotus 15 of J.C. Kilburn painted in the Royal Tangiers Auto Club colors of Black with a Red Stripe. This was an inside joke of J.C. Kilburn related to me by Jay Sloane.

Here is a story from Dan Gerber who was George Reed's co-driver at Sebring in a Cobra in 1965. It was related to Willem Oosthoek and I am putting it up for the forum members to enjoy:

"At Sebring in 1965, George Reed took over from me and didn't make one lap. Going into the Esses, a smaller car- a Volvo?-blew it's engine in front of George. George hit the oil puddle and went sliding off, across open space and into the wall of an old barracks. The car was turned into an amorphous ball of aluminum foil, and George was airlifted to a hospital in Palm Beach for extensive plastic surgery. I waited for George for several days at Harder Hall, during which time the racing crowd moved out and a group of Florida Grandmother's Golfing group moved in. George returned to the Hotel one morning and walked into the lobby in his torn and blood-crusted driving suit, bearing his torn and blood crusted face, now held together with 128 stitches. Upon seeing him Grandmothers fled in terror!

Three months later, at Road America. George told me that somehow a portion of his lower lip got sewn on inside out so that, in order to brush his front teeth, all he had to do was lay a little toothpaste on them and then massage his upper lip. At Road America that fall I co-drove George Reed's Ferrari Testa Rossa 250 with a Holman and Moody 427 Ford in it. It was a very rapid sled."

Here is another story from Dan Gerber about Sebring in 1964: "I was driving and it was just after sunset. The car ran out of fuel about 100 yards short of the pits and we were disquailfied. At first we thought it was due to a miscalculation in the pits, but then discovered it was due to a fuel leak. When we brought the car in behind the pits, fans descended on it and several tried to take pieces of the car as souvenirs. So George Reed and I got in the car and after adding some fuel we drove it to Harder Hall. This was to remove it from the melee. We parked the Cobra on a patch of sand, where it sat dripping fuel, and went into the bar where we ran into Hap Sharp. Hap had also retired and was telling stories how he would get behind one of those V-12 Ferrari's and become so mesmerized by the scream of it's engine that he would forget he was suppose to pass it . He was diving his Chaparral. As he said he finally somewhat reluctantly passed it. After a few drinks George Reed went out and moved the car to a fresh patch of sand. We then ran into the Hotel manager, a guy named Danny, and after a few more drinks with him, George said " Hey Danny, come outside with me I want to show you something really spectacular!" We ambled outside to where the Cobra had recently been vacated from the patch of sand, and while we were talking George Reed struck a match and threw it on the fuel- soaked sand, there was a tremendous "Whomp!" As the flames erupted into the sky shooting 10-15 feet up in the air, and Danny the manager was standing there flabbergasted. He quickly assessed the fire constituted no immediate threat to the hotel, and we all had a great laugh."

George Reed, John Miller and Alan Connell in the pits at Nassau in 1958.Although George Reed became a Goodyear dealer later in life, at Nassau in 1958 his Ferrari 375 Plus still raced on Firestones. He finished 11th in the feature. In the foreground the Rodriguez brothers Pedro on the left finished 2nd in a Ferrari 250TR. Ricardo on the right retired in his Porsche 550RS.photos lent site John Miller Family Collection-research Willem Oosthoek.

Another shot of the Reed Ferrari taken during a pit stop at the September of 1958 Road America 500, with Reed's co-driver Lek von Kaesborg.photo lent site John Miller Family Collection-research Willem Oosthoek.

A fellow Racing Rat was Allan Ross with the Racing Rat seen on the side of his LolaFellow Racing Rat Allan Ross's Lola arriving being towed by his 57 Plymouth.Photos lent site John Miller Family Collection-research Willem Oosthoek.

After looking at SCCA magazines of the day. It is felt that the race track and the event in the picture on post#10 can be identified as the April 20, 1958 SCCA National at Marlboro, where both George Reed in the white #95 Ferrari 375 Plus and Duncan Black in the red #4 Ferrari 375MM were entered for the feature called the President's Cup. Duncan Black was 5th overall and George Reed came in 11th overall.
However, Carl Haas's name, or the #26, do not show up in any of the complete results and it is likely that the white Porsche actually carried #126. This would have made it the Porsche of Bruce Jennings, later a Chaparral team driver.
An interesting side note to this race: the big bore production race for the Lavender Hill Mob Trophy, won by Fred Windridge in a 1957 Corvette, featured an early apperance by Roger Penske. Penske retired at the wheel of his Corvette.
All research Willem Oosthoek.

A very nice picture of George Reed in 1958, he won the SCCA C- Production Championship with his Ferrari TdeF. He beat the 250TdeF raced by George Arents, the money man behind NART, by a sizeable margin of 6,800 points vs 5,000. Jim Jeffords in a Corvette won the B-Production that year, while D-Production went to Dick Thompson and his Austin-Healey.all research Willem Oosthoek. photo lent site Willem Oosthoek.